The applicant of the present invention is also the applicant of the New Zealand patent application number 527195 and has been involved in the development of packaging systems for single serve drinks for a number of years. The present invention relates to significant developments over the systems described in the above patent application.
The problem has been to devise a tamper evident seal for use with a drink packaging product which includes both a bottle and a drinking vessel. Early attempts to solve this problem have involved the use of a paper or plastic wrap fitted over the join between the mouth of the drinking vessel and the body of the bottle.
However this type of seal has a number of problems. It involves the use of an additional item of material, and this additional item must be fitted by adding another step to the production line used to fill and seal the drink packages. This additional material and production step adds to the cost of producing each packaged drink.
Also, a tamper evident seal which is removed from the packaged drink when the package is opened is a problem. The person opening the drink has one hand to hold the bottle and one to hold the drinking vessel, and another item can be a nuisance and is likely to become a litter hazard. This problem can be significant in an airline situation where seated passengers are provided with drinks, and where a tear off seal is yet another object to handle and one that will often end up on the floor or under seat cushions etc.